ON THIS DAY in 2009, Celtic announced that Tony Mowbray would be joining the club as manager, replacing Gordon Strachan. The central defender turned coach played for Celtic four nearly four years in the early 1990s and was the popular choice for the job having enjoyed impressive spells at Hibernian and West Brom.
As we know now, Mowbray’s tenure was short lived and best to be forgotten; however, it was Mowbray’s shortcomings that allowed Neil Lennon to become Celtic boss, shepherding in a decade of dominance for the club.
Mowbray’s football at times was very attractive and was the Celtic way. However, defeats to lesser oppositions and failing to win the big games meant that even without the humbling in Paisley, he would have found it a tall order to retain his job.
Celtic were beaten 4-0 by St Mirren as Mowbray’s era crumbled in the midweek fixture. You would be hard-tasked to find defending that bad in an amateur league as the Buddies couldn’t believe their luck.
The season was summed up by a 2-0 defeat to Ross County in the Scottish Cup, a week or so after he was relieved of his duties. The Championship side dumped Celtic out the Scottish Cup at Hampden, meaning that the miserable season would end without any trophies.
Mowbray and Celtic were an unfortunate marriage at a time where Celtic began to cutback. Unlike Strachan’s sides, who were pragmatic and could win ugly, Mowbray’s sides forfeited defensive robustness for pretty, attractive football and ultimately, results will be hindered by this. He was, and still is, highly regarded by the Celtic support as a man – even if his managerial tenure left an awful lot to be desired.
Mowbray is within spitting distance of the Premier League playoff places in the English Championship as the Blackburn manager prepares for the league restart.
